I did this for a while with just straight paraffin wax, and the wax gets dirty quite quickly, even when doing this mostly with chains used exclusively indoors. I now clean the chain by rinsing it with boiling water, and this keeps the wax much, much cleaner. If you decided to just rewax chains directly off the bike, you really do want to have a clean and a dirty crockpot, as the dirty will get quite dirty pretty quickly.
I rinse the chain with boiling water, then spray it off with isopropyl alcohol to displace the water, then put it into the wax. Any residual alcohol quickly boils off.
Sorry if this has been covered. I use Squirt on my bikes but interested in trying Silca Super Secret.
Do I need to once again go through the entire degreasing process or can Super Secret be applied to a Squirt chain given their similarities?
With SSS, I usually re-apply once a week or so and then a full degreasing/soak every month or so (depends on how dirty the chain is and how lazy I am). Once you have gotten all the old oil out of the chain, degreasing a ādirtyā waxed chain is pretty easy.
If it were me I would clean the chain of Squirt before applying Silca SS. Squirt is not pure a pure paraffin and doesnāt flake off like Silca will so you will just be applying Silca over a lube that stays locked onto the chain along with all the dirt and debris trapped in the Squirt.
Thanks I guess I was just being lazy but makes sense. Iāll give the chains a proper degrease first.
Hey,
Iām new to this forum (and also rather new to cycling). Iāve read this thread with great interest and itās made me want to try SSS myself. So thanks for all your contributions to this topic. Still, Iāve got some questions about SSS and would appreciate your help.
So, I bought SSS and followed the guidelines on zerofrictioncycling.com and used mineral turps/white spirit as well as denatured alcohol to degrease my chain and applied SSS after the chain had dried. Then I let it āwork its magicā for about 24hours. Since then Iāve only ridden my bike once and the chain felt quite smooth. However, when I work on the bike while it being in the stand the sound of the chain is quite loud (which it wasnāt when I rode my bike). Is that normal?
Also, what do you do after a rainy ride? Iāve also bought Silcaās gear wipes and from what Iāve understood from one of the Silca videos I can use them after a rainy ride and clean the chain this way and just re-apply SSS and wait another 24 hours, right? But what about the dirt that may accumulate in the inside of the chain. Letās say you do a long ride in the rain (and at least some dirt). Will the wipes suffice or do I have to use solvents again to get the chain clean? Or will boiling water (as it is ājust waxā) do it too?
Thanks in advance
After you ride in the rain I would wipe the chain down right after. You can use the gear wipes, but you can also use a clean dry microfiber cloth. After wiping and drying the rest of the bike off, Iād let it sit a little while to fully dry. You can then go ahead and reapply the SSS and let it again sit 24 hours or so before your next ride. Itās surprising how clean the chain stays by simply wiping it down after every ride. The SSS doesnāt attract a lot of dirt like a traditional wet lube does.
It definitely is not a bad idea to take the chain off every once in a while to give it a more thorough cleaning (Gatorade bottle shake cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, etc) but it depends on how much maintenance you want to do and how āperfectā you want the chain.
Has anyone tried Motorkote on their chain. It seems to be formulated to do the same sort of thing inside your motor so why wouldnāt it work on your chain?
A $5 block of Gulf Paraffin in a crock pot and Iām good to go. Additives Smattivives. They add, what, a quarter watt? I started with two new Wipperman chains, stripped them really really clean, and now Iām good for about 50 or 60 miles on gravel. Less if itās wet. Easy peazy.
Do you swap your chain 2-5x times per week? I am not being snarky, I am actually asking. I keep almost getting myself to bother with all this, and people say its not much work but this sure sounds like a lot of extra work.
Depends how much gravel Iām on. I could probably get more miles, but Iāve never let it go until it started squeaking. My trails are about 50% asphalt, 50% gravel. On asphalt I think you can get at least three times as many miles. As for the extra work, I can do it pretty quickly. Iām only running an XT groupset, so itās not real expensive to replace. The process becomes more worthwhile the more expensive your cassette and chaninrings are.
Because it is.
I have pounds of wax, an ultrasonic cleaner and a crock pot in the workshop along with several chains. Gone down the rabbit hole pretty deep when TTāing a lot. Wax is worth it, maybe, for race day bike and if you enjoy the process as part of the hobby. Else, there are solutions which work great and take a fraction of the time and effort.
Wax on bros!!
For gravel I still prefer RocknRoll Gold over TSS on my training chain. RocknRoll is really easy to apply after each ride and keeps the chain clean with the simple microfiber wipe down. For road I use wax and TSS.
Thereās the up to 5x longer lifespan for components too! Iāve gone through one cassette on each of my bikes since 2017ā¦
Oh, I had an immersion waxed chain on Saturday, which I rode once for 30k then topped up (twice) with silca ss before a big ride. Got caught in some rain and the chain was squeaking before 100k in, which I wasnāt that impressed by.
Iāve noticed with just with drip wax. Iāve been using Smoove. If you get the chain really truly squeeky clean and then get a really good penetration of the wax, itās almost like chains last forever.
Iāve got two years on my current chain and it hasnāt yet worn past the .5 or mark on my Park chain checker. Prior to waxing, Iād hit that mark in 6 to 9 months.
Thanks a lot!
I have a XX1 MTB chain that is 4 years in, and still less than 0.5% wear. I keep it clean, but itās the construction of the chain that is the biggest driver.
I use Campagnolo 11 speed chains. People on the weightweenieās board said that you canāt measure Campagnolo chains with the Park chain checker but it always worked in the past for me. Per Campagnolo, you measure pin to pin over a certain length and toss it when it has stretched a certain amount.
Iāve been planning on just replacing it anyway soon when I give my bike a spring tune up.
Whateverās been happening, Iām pretty sure that Iāve experienced increased chain life with waxing, extra good cleaning, and extra good* application penetration. They mention this in the Smoove report on zerofriction.
To get extra good penetration with Smoove, I put the clean chain in the plastic zip lock bag, apply the lube and then work in the lube and let it sit in the bag for a few days. I also did several dips of the bag in a warm water bath to get the lube to flow into the link.
I hot waxed my chain and it was great until I did two hours gravel ride and now the chain is full of dust and now I need to put silca secret wax on it. How to clean the chain?